Chapter Eight: Facing Trouble Almost All My Life

NOTE: END OF CHAPTER HAS BEEN REWRITTEN.

Only the last couple of paragraphs. Sorry for any confusion.

Juniper blocked out the heat of the sun beating down on her dark hair, ignored the sweat that was making her itchy beneath the bandage on her neck. She focused on a slow inhale and then a slower exhale as she adjusted the stock and finally looked through the scope at the waddling gecko. It hadn't spotted her yet, none of them had. But it would pick up speed soon when it finally sensed her.

Finger still away from the trigger, she waited a beat, zeroing in. Boone's hunting rifle was similar to the one he'd given her months ago except for the scope; the model on his was heavier and it suited her just fine. With its weight, she was able to keep her aim steady just long enough to zero in and shoot once she had her target spotted and she needed to get stronger anyway.

The gecko straightened for that short moment to check out its surroundings before it took off across the hot, cracked roadside to the rest of its group. Waiting for it, she squeezed the trigger, bracing for the recoil.

She didn't hit the gecko where she'd aimed, punching through neck instead of skull, the reptile still in mid-run before it hit the ground. Its crash alerted the other three geckoes nearby and they all looked up before breaking into a run towards her.

The courier shifted her position as the targets moved, keeping her weak elbow elevated on an upraised knee as she knelt on the overpass outside of Novac. She aimed at the nearest one, shot, pulled and returned the bolt left-handed. The spent casing bounced off her arm before it hit the pavement at the same instance that her second shot rang out with a sharp crack. She emptied the rifle on the racing geckos before pulling her eyes away from the scope, guessing it would take three more shots. Placing the rifle on the ground, she reached for her sidearm to take aim once again.

She was off by one round as the final gecko fell ten yards from her, the headshot clear this close.

Standing with a quick turn to take in her surroundings, she holstered the magnum on her right hip. She was getting more precise with the handguns and if she took the magnum, Maria and Boone's rifle she'd have twenty-five rounds and a combat knife at her disposal before having to reload. Being able to do so rapidly was one of her hardest challenges still.

"Four targets, eight rounds. Tch." Boone's voice was cold, clearly unimpressed.

Juniper turned, brow furrowed. "You didn't say I had a limit on ammo."

"Should've done it with four. Five max. You're not ready." He wasn't looking at her, instead glaring eastward, towards Nelson.

Slinging the rifle, Juniper turned back towards the geckos as she reloaded the magazine slowly. Spotting a gleam of gold maybe two hundred meters away, she lifted the rifle once again and took aim with her splinted arm this time. It was heavy, a portion of it feeling like it was asleep and it took some effort just to lift it high enough to fit the stock in the pocket of her bad shoulder, wrapping the strap around her good arm to steady it. She zeroed in with the scope once again, taking her time to get it right with so much distance between them. Luckily, there was barely any wind and the day was clear and bright, the sun at an angle that only caused minimal glare. Holding a breath before she completely let it out, she squeezed the trigger and the eruption along her right side was worth it as the gecko fell after that single shot.

The way her shoulder was throbbing was another challenge, the pain running down her arm from where the rifle stock had been sitting pulsing hotly. Her hand was twitching with the pounding sensation and she was grateful for the thin, tightly-woven poncho she had gotten from the caravan as it hid most of her bound arm from sight. Siri had splinted the upper arm to minimize movement, trying to protect the healing she had done so far. It worked to a degree but if the pain was any indication...

Plastering on a triumphant smirk, she turned back to Boone, pushing the sunglasses up the bridge of her nose. It was another find from the caravan, a pair Cass had plucked out for her while they were picking through the wares.

Juniper had attached herself to the redhead as soon as she spotted her after breakfast, told her of her plan to head out to Nelson that day. It was a good thing, too, since Boone had gone silent, the words he'd just told her the most he had spoken to her all day. Cass hadn't seemed all that enthusiastic, either, now that she thought of it.

"I think I'll be ok, Craig. We're not jumping in right away, just going to do some recon when we get there."

"If I see crimson, I'm taking the shot."

"Then you can't possibly mind if I do the same."

He looked immensely frustrated and she was tempted to ask him what was eating him, bracing herself for that conversation.

But a whistle called their attention and she saw Raul and Siri approaching from Novac's gate. Shouldering the rifle, Juniper was about to wave at them when Boone stopped her, a hand on her arm.

"Six-"

"Juniper," she corrected quietly, facing him. "Jun would be okay." She kept her gaze direct as his frown deepened.

She hadn't even noticed she had started bleeding again, a drip traveling down her hand and falling from her fingers onto the buffalo gourd leaves crushed beneath them. It was driving him to distraction and his grip on her tightened, anger still at the forefront. It was burning through him and directed at her, had been since he found the letter addressed to him.

"Juniper-"

"Jefa, we're done packing but Siri wants to check you one last time before we go."

Boone nearly growled as he dropped his hold. He turned and walked ahead of them, not bothering to speak to anyone further as they followed at a slower pace behind.

Siri watched the sniper with a pensive expression as she took the courier's bleeding hand and Juniper finally noticed the blood. "Someone else should watch me change your dressings since I won't be going with you."

"Arcade can do it once he catches up with us," the courier murmured as they all walked back.

"What about until then? What if something happens?"

Boone muttered unintelligibly ahead of them. Juniper's second choice was traveling with Arcade and Raul protested before she could speak up. "Sorry jefa. No offense, but you're the last woman I want to see shirtless."

"What about you, Mr. Boone?"

Juniper felt herself burn with embarrassment and after a quick glance his way, she saw Boone's ears had turned nearly as red as his beret. She was about to protest, ready to offer Cass as a candidate when Siri spoke up again.

"Can I place her care in your hands?"

She was so busy staring at Siri with growing alarm that she crashed into him, hadn't noticed Boone had stopped altogether. It was like running into a wall, he was so stiff and she fell back on her behind, obscenities escaping her at the landing.

Boone cursed as well, reaching down to pull her to her feet with a strong grip and placing a steadying hand on her hip as she righted herself. He let go once she was standing and turned his frown on Siri, penetrating stare boring into her.

She wished the ground would swallow her up. "You don't-"

"Fine," he bit it out at the same time. He looked conflicted, rubbing a hand over his head, the beret coming off momentarily before he slipped it on again with a resigned breath. Juniper wondered what was going on behind those shades of his as he looked at the medic. "I need to get something first."

The three stared after him as he headed towards the bungalows in the opposite direction of his room. Raul had to finally nudge Juniper to follow along behind Siri, at a complete loss for words at what had just transpired.

Siri had turned on the lamp and was setting out bandages, antiseptic, gauze, ointment and tweezers, along with a candle that Juniper always flinched at whenever she saw the metal getting close to the flame.

Still feeling immensely embarrassed, the courier pulled off the poncho as she sat on the chair stiffly, her back to the door and the lamp.

"Why did you do that?" She finally asked.

"He's worried about you," Siri stated simply. "And frankly, I am too."

"You've put him in a very uncomfortable position."

"Which he agreed to of his own volition. I didn't twist his arm." Siri looked up at the courier, noting the nervousness on the courier's face. "It will help him if he believes he can help take care of you."

Juniper continued frowning in confusion and Siri finally took pity on her, elaborating as she touched the zipper of the vault suit, indicating she should begin pulling it down.

"Daisy mentioned his wife, told me she disappeared. Daisy thinks she's dead and I think your sniper believes that, too. It makes sense, that he'd want to make sure the same doesn't happen to you."

Extremely uncomfortable with where the conversation was going with Siri of all people, Juniper was almost grateful when she heard the door open behind her, signaling the arrival of said sniper. With a silent sigh, she unzipped the vault suit enough to pull her right arm out, the splint making it harder to maneuver. She brushed short hair aside even though she didn't need to, an old habit as she swallowed self-consciously at what her ravaged back must look like. She had never seen it, could only guess at the extent of it by the pain she felt from the back of her neck and down the curve towards her shoulder, traveling down the shoulder blade.

The courier hadn't worn a bra or anything binding since she'd gotten hurt and she felt her nipples pebble as she bared them to clear the vault suit from the gauze wrappings. She folded her arms over herself protectively. Boone had bandaged her up before and she had seen more of him, more of his pain and his blood out in the desert than she could ever remember seeing of Benny in the intimacy of the dim lights of his room at the Tops. She trusted him. But it didn't mean this whole ordeal wasn't a whole new level of vulnerability she was exposing as Siri began revealing the wounds underneath the bandaging.

She had to give it to him, he remained silent as Siri showed him which areas needed the dressings cleaned and replaced if disturbed since the blisters had burst already. Then there were the other areas where the skin was patchy and where the bleeding had started sluggishly again. Stimpaks couldn't regrow skin any better than they could limbs or any other major organ.

She stopped listening, closing her eyes. Siri had a gentle touch, lighter than Arcade's even and the sting of the antiseptic faded once she began applying the ointment the doctor had left behind. Juniper still hadn't gotten a glimpse of her back and was constantly wondering.

As if reading her thoughts, Boone finally spoke up, catching her attention. "How's it going, her recovery?"

"Her lower abdomen is nearly healed and as long as it isn't hit directly, it should be fine. The bruising just looks severe. The shallow cut from the machete is nothing more than scar tissue. But here…" Siri sighed heavily. "Some of its healing where the burns weren't too bad. But there's much that's not looking good. She really shouldn't be going."

"I can't expect the others to go without me, Siri."

"She's right. Stay here."

"I can't. Are you deaf?" She was harsh, on edge about this entire situation.

"But it makes no sense for you to escape only to head right to them again," Siri protested.

"They'll come for Novac next, Siri. Escaping will have been pointless if they're not stopped." She was tired of this, wished she could zip herself up quickly. She turned her head to glare at them both. "Are we done here? I need to change before we head out."

Siri looked away but Boone didn't for once, eyes narrowed. He wasn't wearing his aviators, his gaze cutting into her in a way that made her insides clench.

"Fine." His voice was cold once again and if she thought that was the end of it, she was wrong because he suddenly bent down to give her a hard look, voice low and threatening. "But I'm with you, no matter where you go - got it?"

He straightened and stalked out, a warning all unto himself. She felt sorry for whoever crossed him out there as she let out a held breath, heart racing as she frowned at his retreating back.

Siri merely shook her head as the courier stared after the sniper in confusion.

He handed her an NCR breastplate, the two-headed bear faded but the leather well maintained and completely whole. No bullet holes or indentations.

"Where'd you get this?" she wondered as she studied it. It was too small to be Ranger Andy's.

"Don't worry about it. Here." He helped her pull the poncho open along the slit on one side, grabbed the plate and hooked it over one shoulder, careful around the splint. She let him do it, was trying to understand after she had seen him put away the medical supplies in his pack, remembering Siri's words.

"Thanks." She hesitated as his hands worked nimbly at the straps around her chest. "Listen, about the… uh…"

She felt him run his thumbs along the bottom edge of the armor, on her ribcage, making sure the breastplate fit snugly on her frame and she nearly shivered at the contact, at his light and sure touch. His eyes remained on what he was doing, sunglasses back on again but he still had that dark look on his face.

"Craig, about what I wrote..."

He turned that glare on her, tightening a strap to the point that it almost pinched. "Remember what I said."

She quirked a brow at him, unsure. "Stick by you? Seems like I'm the last person you want to be around at the moment."

His teeth were clenched, she could see by the way his jaw tightened and she felt her insides coiling again, mouth becoming dry in anticipation.

"You know you left the door wide open," Cass drawled behind Boone.

Boone tugged her poncho over the piece of armor and finally stepped back, much to her loss.

Oddly annoyed at the interruption even as the tension leaked out of the moment, Juniper turned to address Cass. "Ready to go?"

"You're serious about this?" Cass was leaning against the doorjamb, a small frown on her face as she regarded the courier.

"Deadly," Juniper promised, entire body still wound up and she needed to focus it on something. Beside her, Boone huffed out a breath and shook his head.

The merchant gave her an appraising look, lips pursed, probably measuring the worth of her word. But she finally nodded, seemingly convinced. "Ready when you are. Let's see what you've got."

ED-E took a quick survey of Nelson from a wide perimeter, only able to cover the outskirts of the town up until the ledge dropped off near the guard tower facing the Colorado River. Any closer and he would give them away.

"What are you waiting for?" Ranger Milo wondered.

"More intel," the courier snapped back, eyes on ED-E as he returned. They were standing by the checkpoint where they'd first met the NCR, the Ranger impatient to get his mission started even though she couldn't understand his rush when he had already given up on the hostages. Either way, he had to wait for her, couldn't afford to do anything else unless the NCR sent backup. Which they wouldn't, if any of her dealings with them so far were any indication.

He said the grunts that had survived the takeover were too green to go in and reclaim the town. With the hostages crucified, they were even less eager to go and he couldn't order them to, either way. The divide between the Rangers and the rest of the NCR army had always been bad, but it had gotten worse since the Battle of Hoover Dam and it didn't seem clearer than in situations like these.

Milo walked away from her, heading back to the ridge until she stopped wasting his time. She was glad to see him go, would rather deal with the grunts who eyed her group nervously as they all huddled around the courier and her Pip-Boy. Juniper scrolled through the menu, looking for the correct map as ED-E beeped the info to her.

"What does he want?" Boone asked, having stayed within sighting if not listening distance from her.

"He wants us to do his dirty work," she muttered with distaste. "The Legion's got hostages up on some telephone poles in the middle of town."

"To hell with mercy killing. We're getting those guys outta there."

A little surprised at his outburst, the courier was nonetheless in agreement. "You heard the man. We take out the enemy before we untie them. There's a cortubenia out there. ED-E counted all nine and what looks to be a mongrel, most of them concentrated near the hostages and this area," she tapped the screen where the gated power plant stood. It was near where a group of structures were clustered together, providing the most cover. "Since we're approaching them from above, we can lob some dynamite in their direction, let the hill carry them the rest of the way down. We just have to bring them out first, and if I plant a few mines-"

"No. You'll leave yourself too open."

She gave Boone a look before turning back to the map, thinking of contingency one. "Raul, if I toss a grenade from here-"

"Let us handle this, boss. Cass needs to get closer with her shotgun, anyway," Raul offered, holding a hand out for the grenades she had strapped to her belt.

"I'll take the dynamite while you're at it," Cass added with a smirk and the courier handed all the explosives and her lighter forward with a small frown. She asked ED-E to cover them as Boone nudged her towards the ledge the ranger was perched on.

They got into position, the courier kneeling once again with the rifle on her right side, shoulder be damned. She needed her aim to be flawless with the others getting so close.

In a few short moments, she heard Raul's magnum go off, the sound of the grenade exploding and shrapnel flying before she heard Boone's "spotted!". It was followed by the crack of his rifle next to her and the courier took aim and unloaded on three Legion recruits and one of the mongrels. A stick of sparkling dynamite took what remained of the beast and two other Legion that had just come within sight of her scope in a smoky explosion that rattled the remaining glass on the windows in the structures nearby.

She pulled her eyes away, changed weapons as she looked to where Boone had his weapon locked, shot after shot cracking in the air. ED-E's warning tune was going off non-stop and Ranger Milo was yelling next to her about not following orders. She continued shooting, men in crimson falling in their wake. They wouldn't get to Novac, she had promised Siri. She didn't want to lie to her.

When all the enemies were down, she reloaded all weapons, keeping the magnum in hand as she crept down the ridge and down a separate lane to join the others in a quick sweep as she counted the heads, pulling caps, Legion coins and ammo free as she went along. She was too full of adrenaline to feel any pain.

She reached the end of the row of houses with no incident, climbed the steps to one of the bungalows silently. She would wait until one of the others joined her before checking inside, so she looked towards the center of town, where the soldiers were tied up on telephone poles.

Seeing movement out of the corner of her eye, she saw Cass approaching slowly, heading towards a fallen NCR soldier. The courier had asked that all dog tags be removed so they could return them whenever they hit the next outpost. But as Cass got closer, she noticed a blinking light and was about to call out a warning before she noticed a stray mongrel crouching nearby, unaccounted for. Startled and wondering how many they had missed, she only had a split second to make a decision. She aimed at the same time that she called out a warning to the redhead, shooting towards the mine between the mongrel and Cass.

She was lucky because the mongrel leaped when she yelled and her bullet hit the mine in time to catch the poor beast and toss him back with a terrible yelp of pain.

Juniper didn't have time to regret hurting the dog because a pair of hands wrapped around her mouth and throat and pulled her back so hard and fast, she felt herself choking as her windpipe was crushed.

She struggled immediately, turning the gun on her attacker but her arm was twisted by a third hand and she saw the light get blocked out as she was dragged inside the bungalow, door shut behind her attackers. She tried to bite the hand, reached for her knife with her bad arm, but a hand landed on her shoulder and squeezed and she screamed bloody murder, her head jerking back to collide with the head behind her painfully, the sharpness of tooth biting into her scalp.

The struggle didn't last long, her knee was kicked out from under her with almost deadly accuracy. She was sure that it had nearly been broken as she rolled onto her side on the floor, moaning in agony. She heard the battle again outside, weapons going off and ED-E's tune getting closer. Looking up she saw the distinctive headgear of the missing decanus she hadn't seen earlier, darkened goggles hiding the face entirely.

"I'm surprised you're here, profligate whore. But Vulpes warned me you might show up." He stepped forward as she straightened up, standing quickly. He let her and she reached for her knife again, her only option. But it was three against her and they were all too close, the decanus reaching out once she was subdued and squeezing her shoulder once more. "He also told me where Caesar marked you."

He fell suddenly, a machete blade sticking out to point at her through his chest. It was pulled out again and the decanus fell, Cass giving the other two Legion soldiers a wicked smile before each of them jerked back with explosive force. Raul's magnum broke one head apart as neatly as Boone did the chest of the other and Cass backed up so she didn't get sprayed.

Juniper didn't have that option, getting it from both sides and Cass scrunched her nose up, a smile still tugging at her lips. "You're hair's looking gross again and it's only been a day. Hope you brought extra water with you."

Boone didn't give her a chance to respond, pulling her out of the bungalow forcefully and closing the door, leaving a bewildered looking Cass behind.

"What is wrong with you?" he growled, anger bright and evident.

"We miscalculated," she sighed, closing her eyes and leaning her head forward on his chest in exhaustion. "There were two conturbenia, then?"

He stiffened at her touch and she wondered if she should pull away. His grip on her arm loosened but he didn't let her go so she remained. Eventually, his chest rose and fell as he let out a deep breath, his other hand on her hip, fisting on her belt loop.

"You can't die on me."

She felt her chest tighten. "You know what you have to do, then."

He didn't respond so she said it for him, looking up at his shuttered expression, his tense shoulders. "You have to stay alive to make sure I don't."

She moved to back away, to help Ranger Milo free the NCR troopers down from the poles but Boone didn't let her go, pulled her closer instead. When he wrapped both arms around her hesitantly, she hugged him back and let herself sink into him. She was surprised when he did the same, his body pressed close and she ached for him to be closer, wished he kissed her the way he had before.

As if knowing where her thoughts were heading, when Cass opened the door behind them, she huffed, tone teasing. "I would say get a room but you're not good at closing doors, either. Starting to think you want me to catch you in the act."

Boone didn't let go and Juniper added that to the list of other things she was grateful for that day.

Notes: For Concepcion.